We’ve all grown up eating bread. Conventionally, we’ve used it to make sandwiches or when there’s no time to make rotis or rice, it becomes the perfect carb accompaniment to soak up gravy. While bread can be slightly dull on its own — we’re not talking about flavored bread or the popular sweet flatbreads made during the festive season — it can work wonders in a variety of scenarios, one of them being desserts. If your thoughts immediately shoot towards traditional bread pudding, we’re here to tell you that there’s so much more you can do with bread! If you have bread lying around the house — it doesn’t have to be super fresh — we have four recipes that will transform this humble ingredient into the most delectable bread desserts.
Chocolate Spread Bread Pudding With Blackberry Coulis
The chewiness of sourdough unites with the tart sweetness of blackberries in this bread dessert.
Ingredients
For the bread pudding:
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter (softened)
- 6-8 slices of day-old sourdough bread (½ inch thick)
- 296 gm Chocolate spread
- 454 gm heavy cream
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 67 gm granulated sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp brown sugar
- Confectioner’s sugar (for garnish)
For the blackberry coulis:
- 229 gm blackberries (divided)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- A pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 176°C; grease two baking dishes with butter.
- Make 3-4 sandwiches using bread and chocolate spread. Cut them into 1-inch cubes and place them into the baking dish.
- In a saucepan, heat cream over low heat until it just about starts simmering. In a bowl, whisk eggs, egg yolk, sugar, salt and vanilla extract and gradually pour it into the hot cream. Make sure to whisk constantly to prevent the mixture from scrambling.
- Pour the custard mixture over the bread cubes, making sure they’re thoroughly covered and soaked. Let it sit for 10 minutes so that the bread can absorb the custard mixture.
- Sprinkle brown sugar and let it bake for 30-35 minutes.
- To prepare the coulis, mix 113 gm blackberries, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan and cook for 5-10 minutes until it comes to a boil. Then run the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve to get rid of the seeds. You should end up with a smooth sauce.
- Serve the bread pudding with the coulis. Garnish with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar and the remaining blackberries.
Panne Fritto
The Italian version of French toast, this bread dessert makes for a great breakfast item. It’s so easy to make too!
Ingredients
- 4 thick slices of day-old bread
- 200 ml milk
- 50 gm sugar (plus more for serving)
- 1 egg
- The juice and zest of half a lemon
- A splash of white wine
- 1 tbsp butter
Instructions
- Mix 25 gm sugar with milk and soak the bread slices for about 10 minutes.
- In a bowl, beat egg with the remaining sugar, lemon juice and zest, and wine.
- Over medium heat, melt butter in a large skillet. Drain the excess milk from the bread slices and dip them into the egg mixture. Fry them in butter, on both sides, until golden brown.
- Serve with a sprinkle of sugar.
Croissant a la Plancha
If you’re looking for a decadent breakfast item, it doesn’t get better than this recipe for croissant a la plancha.
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter (room temperature plus more for the pan)
- 1 tbsp honey
- ½ vanilla bean
- Salt
- 1 croissant (split)
- Orange marmalade (for serving)
- Powdered sugar (for serving)
Instructions
- To make the honey butter, blend honey, butter, seeds from the vanilla bean and a large pinch of salt.
- Heat a pan with butter; brown both sides of the croissant.
- Before serving, dust the cut side up of the croissant with powdered sugar and serve with orange marmalade and honey butter.
Gulab Jamun
This gulab jamun recipe uses bread and takes only 25 minutes to prepare!
Ingredients
- 8 slices of bread
- 2 tbsp malai/cream
- 79 ml milk
- 1 tbsp maida
- 200 ml ghee (or any neutral oil)
- 200 gm sugar
- 2-4 cardamom pods
- 6-8 strands of kesar
- 1 tsp rose water
Instructions
- Pulse the slices of bread to create breadcrumbs. Add malai and milk and mix to create a soft dough.
- Make tiny dough balls and keep them aside on a plate.
- Then heat ghee and fry the dough balls until golden brown.
- Heat 236 ml water and add sugar, crushed cardamom pods and kesar strands. Mix well and bring to a boil. Turn off the heat.
- Add the fried balls to the syrup and serve either hot or cold.